Yeshuyab II

Yeshuyab II (reigned 628-644)[1] was a seventh century Christian Catholicos, or patriarch, of Seleucia-Ctesiphon.[2] He played an important role in the ancient Nestorian church of the East, influencing the politics of Christian rule in Persia and seeking to expand the church's influence in east Asia. His reign as patriarch also encompassed the Arab conquest of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, after which the city became part of the Rashidun Islamic Caliphate.

Following the deposition of the disgraced Persian emperor Khosrau II in 627, Yeshuyab negotiated a peace settlement between the Persian court of Kavadh II and the Eastern Roman empire under Heraclius.[3] The agreement ended conflict between Rome and Persia which had seen the Byzantine armies advance on Seleucia-Ctesiphon after Khosrau II, Kavadh's father, had demanded that Rome accept his rule. Following the settlement Heraclius's Byzantine army fought alongside the Persian army, under Yazdegerd III, at the decisive battle of al-Qādisiyyah. This battle saw Seleucia-Ctesiphon, and later the whole Sassanid empire, fall to the armies of the Rashidun Caliphate.[1]

In 635 Yeshuyab commissioned what has been described as the first consequential Christian mission to China.[4] It established for China a metropolitan and several bishops. The mission is documented on the Nestorian stele, an engraved monument at Xi'an, China.[5]